catchpenny

adjective: Relating to something designed to sell quickly: cheap, flashy, or sensationalistic.noun: Something that’s designed to sell quickly.

ETYMOLOGY:

From the phrase catch a penny. Earliest documented use: 1760.

NOTES:

If you catchpenny, be gentle. If you pinch it, you’d be a pinchpenny
(a stingy person). Some other penny-related terms are
halfpenny,
penny-ante, and
god’s penny.

USAGE:

“The decades discussed in this volume were decisive in the history of
modern music, and a more catchpenny author might justifiably have
chosen the title ‘twenty years that changed the world’.”
Patricia Howard; Der Ganze Heartz; Musical Times (London, UK); Autumn 2009.

The only index by which to judge a government or a way of life is by the
quality of the people it acts upon. No matter how noble the objectives of a
government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and
breeds ill will and suspicion -- it is an evil government. -Eric Hoffer,
philosopher and author (25 Jul 1902-1983)